The uncle of murdered schoolgirl Danielle Jones has lost his appeal against his conviction for her killing.

Stuart Campbell, 45, was jailed for life in December 2002 for the kidnap and murder of 15-year-old Danielle, but her body has never been found.

After the hearing her father, Tony, said Campbell should reveal the whereabouts of the teenager's body, adding that her killer was a "monster".

Danielle disappeared near her home in East Tilbury, Essex, in June 2001.

His defence was based on an alibi - that he was nowhere near the scene of his niece's disappearance.

Girl fixation

In the appeal, his lawyers argued that the trial judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, should have excluded highly prejudicial evidence to the effect that Campbell had a fixation for young girls and taking photographs of them.

They also urged Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Simon and Mr Justice Bean to rule that one of the jurors should have been discharged because he lived next door but one to a police officer involved in the case.

After a hearing which lasted just over a day, Lord Justice Kennedy said: "For reasons which we will give later, this appeal against conviction is dismissed."

I think he should now just lay down and be quiet and tell us what we want

Linda Jones, mother of Danielle

After the announcement by the Court of Appeal, Danielle's parents Linda and Tony said they were confident the conviction would stand.

Mrs Jones said: "We now hope he does the decent thing and lets us have her back so we can put her in a place of rest which she deserves."

During the hearing the parents sat in court just yards away from Campbell, who sat in the dock flanked by security officers.

Mr Jones said: "It was like reliving it all again."

'Horrendous' experience

His wife, commenting on the fact that the three appeal judges retired for just two minutes before dismissing the conviction challenge, said: "It was a hopeless case and the fact that it took two minutes showed that."

She said she had already written to Campbell asking him to reveal what he had done with their daughter but there had been "no response".

Mrs Jones added: "I think he should now just lay down and be quiet and tell us what we want."

The couple said it had been "horrendous" having to sit near Campbell in court.

Mr Jones, who said there had been eye-contact with Campbell, commented: "I thought he just looked like what he is - a monster."